APUF Live: (Survey) Inclusion

From a participant: What is needed in terms of inclusiveness? Inclusion of different paradigms of development. The forum's efforts to guide development towards more sustainable resource use and to tackle CO2 emissions and ecological footprints of our present and future cities is indeed important and appreciated. Still issues like e.g. 'poverty', the rampant destruction of our environment for the benefit of a few, the exploitation of children and women into slavery and sexual exploitation, or the view that animals are mere commodities are considered as mere 'externalities' of our utilitarian economic model; collateral damage of an otherwise perfect system. Through our (unconscious) efforts to keep ignoring that these are inherent 'products or outcomes' of our fundamentally flawed development system and by calling them 'externalities', we can absolve our selves from our part-responsibilities for creating this suffering. This will allow us to sleep well... but will not create the sustainable future we aim for. There are too few voices at the APUF promoting radical change, e.g. a focus on creating happiness based on compassion and social relationships instead of economic efficiency. There is no real questioning of how to move towards a new development paradigm required to achieve real sustainability. Sustainable cities need to emerge from social relationships which re-define the outcomes of our development systems. Lets debate e.g. the Gross National Happiness concept of Bhutan, if only to create some dissonance in the overly conformistic discussions. Instead of shopping malls, which undoubtedly generate much appreciated revenue for cities but which also reinforce our unsustainable livestyles, let's debate the creation of social public spaces, parks where we can connect with each other and our 'natural' environment. Lets (re)design our cities for conduciveness for the development of human consciousness, through a path of understanding interconnectedness, inner-reflection and personal growth. let's create public space for a 'new Socrates' to be heard or even the 'old' one to be rediscovered. The issue is not as much which development concept holds the 'truth' but that dialogue and discovery are needed beyond 'technocratic solutions' to develop truely sustainable cities. The APUF presents an opportunity to understand new important solutions and to understand that there is much we still need to discover. The value attachment to the first should not override the second. Maybe a sleepless night mulching of the 'externalities' of our own thinking and convictions may lead to the start of the path towards a new development paradigm with real inclusive sustainable development?